Wichita eagle., 1887-09-02
INGALLS, ON s UFFRAGE.

1lege OF suffrage In this country by the
adoption of sixteenth amendment to the
constitution, appears in the Forum fol
September. It is logical, statesmanly
presentation of the question and, to us, a
convincing argument why such, extension
of privilege should not be granted. The
aim and intent of the proposed amendment
is for the benefit of women alone, and In
asmuch as large part of the discussion in
the paper is an historical analysis of the
subject leading up to the main point at is
sue, that part of it is omitted, and we give
only the portion directly bearing upon the
question of woman suffrage per Sc. Upon
this matter Mr.. Ingalls, says:
The silence of the champions of the six
teenth amendment concerning this act of
congressional tyranny Is like the stiffness of
the sepulchre. Possibly it has escaped
their attention. But if voting be natural
right, then the women of Utah have suf-
fered redoubled justice, for they have been
deprived by national authority of prerog-
alive conferred both by nature and by law.
If just government rests upon the consent
of the governed, then the Edmunds statute
is the quintessence of concentrated despot-
ism. If woman suffrage be the panancea
that is to cure the ills of society ard purify
politics, the Intervention of congress was
superiuous, and polygamy should have
persisted in the house of its friends. The
truth Is, that good women are better than
the best men, and bad women are worse
than the worst of men, but in politics the
virtues of women would do more harm
than their vices. The strongest evidence
of their capacity for suffrage is the admit
ted fact that they do not want it. No one
doubts that whenever women desire to vote,
the ballot will be given to them. The in
surmountable obstacle to the sixteenth
amendment will be found, not in the hos
tility of men, but in the Indifference and
aversion of women. There is not state,
county or township in the United States in
which the proposition if submitted to the
decision of the wifes, mothers and daugh-
tiers resident therein, would not be rejected
by an unmistakable majority.
The agitation is not new. Nearly a CEN
fury ago the French metaphysician Con-
dorcet published his celebrated plea for the
enfranchisement of women. A little later
New Jersey tried the experiment for sever
al years, and then abandoned it, with the
concurrence of both sexes. The first
National Woman's Right convention
was held in 1850, and for more
than twenty years congress has been
annually petitioned upon the subject of
woman suffrage. The question has been re
spectfully treated, and its advocates have
been accorded courteous consideration. In
many states qualified suffrage has been
granted to women in school and municipal
affairs, with interesting and significant re-
suits. The statistics in Massachusetts are
most minute and accessible The national
movement began there, and the agitation
has been most vigorous and persistent. Its
ablest orators have not ceased for nearly
half century to assure the women of that
commonwealth that they were in bondage,
and that the ballot would make them free |
Frequent conventions have been held, |
bureaus established newspapers ably edited, |
to organize and direct public opinion. The |
opponents of the measure have been held |
up to scorn and derison, as towards who
were afraid to allow women to vote. Those
who have ventured upon the right of pri-
vate judgment have been denounced as
intellectual felons, punishable by outlawry.
Professional agftatDrs, male and female,
have devoted long lives and respectable
talents to the presentation Of the argu-
ments in favor of equal suffrage, to com
nittees OF the legislature and to the people.
And they would not for awhile, but after
ward, like the unjust judge, they said
within themselves: Because this widow
'roubleth US we will avenge her, lest by
Ter continued comings she weary u.s." So,
n 1879, the school suffrage bill was passed
t was hailed by the suffragists as the |
lawn OF new era for women. Hope ele- ]
'ated and joy frightened the crests of the .
eformers. 1t was not doubted that the
!nshackled and liberated women of the L
Bay State would flock to the polling places y
Ike doves to their windows. But. it re- h
embed the acoustic experiment, when the .
title philosophers declared that If all the
ahabitants OF the earth would shout stimuli. e
aneously they could attract the attention
1 the man In the moon. The arrange ! j.
1ents were made, and when the
noment arrived everybody was so anxious
hear the tremendous uproar that nobody
Iouted except an old deaf woman In -
ekin; and thus, instead of an unpreced-
1ted din, there was aA usual and en-
arrasing silence.
The women of Massachusetts have be- Fl
aged an insensibility and Indifference to
leir enfranchisement which is shocking to n
he philanthrophist and discouraging to the
atriot. There are BAT cities and towns in |
lie state. In 40 of these, from 1879 to
sS6, not one woman has ever registered or
oted. In 200, or more than one.half, no
oman has ever voted though in 80 of T
ese few have occasionally registered.
Y the state census of 1886 there were
I2, GIG male voters and 4S6, 31O female
,ters, and Of these, in 1886, there were
S19 who registered and ,911 who voted,
less then 50 per cent of those who reg
tered and in 254 of these who were
igible The population In the in
rval from 1880 to 1885 increased
Early 100000, while the fe- n
ale vote increased 234. In New v
ampshire women have been eligible to
Hoe and authorized to vote In school dis
let affairs since 1879. The same apathy -
as prevailed In the Granite state. In Con =
,rd, where there are 5000 female voters,
nee the novelty of the first meeting not
twenty-five have attended. The expert
tent has had the same result In Vermont
nd elsewhere. The collapse has been COM
lete. Like the seed which fell In stony
laces, where they had not much earth,
lese ideas had sprung up, but when the
In came up they were scorched, and be Il
ause they had not root they withered n
, water. 1t shows the futility of attempt
,g to manufacture reforms, hoping thu. q
aey VIII be called for In explain t;
re champions of the sixteenth amend
hat nhrnf ND